1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the production or assemblage of slide fasteners, and in particular to the attachment to a fastener chain (i.e., a continuous length of a pair of coupled stringers) of top stops which arrest the movement of a slider in its uppermost or closed position in a completed slide fastener.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A variety of methods and apparatus have been suggested and employed for the application of top stops to the endmost scoops of the successive spaced pairs of opposed scoop groups, or to the ends of the blank tape spaces adjoining the endmost scoops, of a fastener chain. According to the majority of such known methods and apparatus, the fastener chain is fed along a predetermined path, and its movement is periodically arrested by some stop means movable into engagement therewith, for bringing the successive endmost scoops or the adjoining ends of the blank tape spaces to a location where top stops are applied. This conventional practice is objectionable because the positions of the endmost scoops or of the adjoining tape space ends for the application of top stops are determined by the movable stop means and, consequently, because the top stops do not necessarily become attached to the exact desired points on the fastener chain.